---
title: "BC NDP alleges Conservative candidates are in separatist Facebook groups"
description: "The BC NDP alleged on October 19 that Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson avoided answering whether separatists are in his party, citing Conservative candidates it says belong to separatist Facebook groups. Doerkson denied the claim."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/bc/provincial-2026/news/bc-ndp-separatist-allegation-conservative-candidates-2026"
last_updated: "2026-10-20T06:25:46.034Z"
---

The BC NDP alleged on October 19, 2026 that Conservative leader [Lorne Doerkson](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/lorne-doerkson) avoided directly answering a question about whether there are separatists in his party. Indo-Canadian Voice reported the exchange on October 19, 2026, in an article by Rattan Mall.

According to the Indo-Canadian Voice report, the NDP cited Conservative candidate [Bryan Tepper](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/bryan-tepper) as belonging to separatist Facebook groups. Those are the NDP's own allegations and have not been independently verified in this article.

## Doerkson's response

Indo-Canadian Voice reported that Doerkson issued a statement: "The Conservative Party of BC stands unequivocally for a strong and united Canada. Always." In the same statement, quoted by Indo-Canadian Voice, Doerkson called the allegation "a pathetic, desperate distraction from his record" and said Eby questioning his patriotism was "shameful."

The Conservative response is a party-wide denial and does not address the specific allegation about group membership.

## What the NDP alleged

According to Indo-Canadian Voice, the NDP cited Conservative candidate Bryan Tepper as being in a separatist Facebook group called the BC Prosperity Project. That is the NDP's own allegation.

The Indo-Canadian Voice article does not include a response from Bryan Tepper.

## What the article does not verify

The claim that any named candidate belongs to a particular Facebook group is the NDP's own allegation. No court or independent body has confirmed it, and no such body has ruled on it. The Indo-Canadian Voice article does not report that it independently checked group membership records. This article reports the allegation as the NDP's claim and reports Doerkson's denial. The allegation is at the stage of a campaign statement only.

## What voters can do

The full list of candidates for Surrey-Panorama is at [/bc/provincial-2026/races/mla/surrey-panorama](/bc/provincial-2026/races/mla/surrey-panorama). General voting day is October 24, 2026. Advance voting runs until October 21 at locations across BC. You can find a voting place through Elections BC at elections.bc.ca.

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/bc/provincial-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.